The business world is rapidly changing. Companies are realizing the importance of diversity and inclusion in the workplace and are working to become more inclusive environments for all employees.
But what does his really mean? Also, how can you effectively measure diversity?
Essentially, diversity and inclusion surveys are one way to assess the climate of a workplace, and to identify areas where improvement is needed when it comes to create a more diverse working environment.
Employers need to start asking employees about their experiences and perceptions, so organizations can better understand what is working well and what needs to be changed.
Ultimately however, when creating a diversity and inclusion survey, it is important to ask the right questions in order to get accurate and helpful results.
Here are 25 of the best diversity and inclusion survey questions to ask employees:
1. How comfortable do you feel sharing your background or identity at work?
When employees feel comfortable sharing their backgrounds and identities, it creates a more inclusive environment for everyone.
This survey question can help you to identify areas where employees may not feel comfortable and see what steps need to be taken to make everyone feel included.
2. Do you feel like you have equal opportunities to share your ideas at work?
All employees should feel like their diverse opinions are valued and heard. This question can help to identify areas where employees may not feel comfortable sharing their ideas and see what steps need to be taken to make sure everyone’s voices are heard.
3. How often do you see people like you represented in senior leadership positions at your company?
It is important for employees to see people like them in leadership positions, as it can create a sense of belonging and inclusion initiative.
This engagement survey question can help you to identify areas where employees may not feel represented, and see what steps need to be taken to increase diversity at the senior leadership level.
4. Do you feel like your company values diversity and inclusion?
A company’s values should be reflected in its actions and policies. During the employee surveys, this question can help you to identify whether employees feel like their company’s values align with its actions on diversity and inclusion and to see what needs to be changed if they do not.
5. What could your company do to better support employees from underrepresented groups?
This is a really important question to ask as you can gain really valuable insights directly from those that belong to the underrepresented communities.
Think of it as gaining insights from the people who are truly being affected. Which is why, when asking this question try and focus on asking questions from people that represent the groups you’re most interested in learning more about.
6. How often do you see people from different backgrounds working together collaboratively at your company?
Collaboration between people from different backgrounds is essential for a truly inclusive workplace whatever your industry.
This diversity survey question can help you identify areas where employees may not feel like they can work collaboratively with people from different backgrounds and see what steps need to be taken to encourage more collaboration.
7. Do you feel like your company is doing enough to recruit and retain employees from underrepresented groups?
It is absolutely critical to get your employee recruitment and retention process correct, if you want to both attract and retain the top talent. Truly, if you get this right you could end up with a workforce that’s both engaged and motivated across the business.
Remember however, that when asking this question you can gain valuable insights into how your employees feel about your company when it comes to whether or not you’re doing enough when it comes to creating an inclusive welcoming culture.
8. Have you ever witnessed or experienced any form of discrimination at work?
Discrimination of any kind has no place in the workplace. When supporting diversity with this question, you can help to identify whether employees have witnessed or experienced discrimination and see what needs to be done to address it.
9. Do you feel like your company provides adequate resources and support for employees with caregiving responsibilities?
Employees who have caregiving responsibilities should not be disadvantaged at work. Usually, companies will have policies in place to support employees with caregiving responsibilities.
10. What could your company do to better support employees with disabilities?
This question can help you to identify specific areas where your company could improve and better support disabled employees. Plus, it can give great insights into what employees with disabilities feel is important to them regarding inclusion and diversity.
For example, employees may feel that their company could do a better job of making its workplace accessible, increasing employee engagement, or providing training on interacting with colleagues with disabilities.
11. Are there any forms of harassment or bullying that you have witnessed or experienced at work?
Harassment and bullying of any kind are completely unacceptable in the workplace. This question can help you to identify whether employees have witnessed or experienced harassment or bullying, and see what needs to be done to address it.
12. Do you feel like your company does enough to support employees with mental health conditions?
Increasingly, it’s being recognised that mental health is equally as important as physical health. Which is why this question is such a powerful question to begin asking your employees.
This question can help you to identify whether employees feel like their company does enough to support employees with mental health conditions and to see what needs to be done to improve the situation.
13. What could your company do to better support employees from different cultures?
Ultimately, with a global workforce you’ll no doubt have people in your team from all over the world. So from many different cultures, and it’s important that the environment you create is supportive to all of them.
Which is where this question comes in. Not only does it address the differences that exist between your team members, but also recognises that we all have our own unique cultural identities.
Plus, this will allow employers to connect more deeply with employees as you’re recognising your employees as individuals!
14. Do you feel like your company provides adequate resources and support for employees who are parents?
Being a parent is one of the most rewarding, but also challenging, experiences that a person can have.
This question can help you to identify whether employees feel like their company provides adequate resources and support for employees who are parents and to see what needs to be done to improve the situation.
15. What could your company do to better support employees who are carers for family members?
This is a really sensitive subject, so we need to be sure to ask this question carefully. Many people have burdens outside of work that don’t feel comfortable expressing, and asking this is a great way for those people to express their true feelings.
Ultimately, if you have employees who take on additional responsibilities like this, then you should aim to support them. This will only help strengthen your workforce and dedication from those team members.
16. Do you feel like your company provides adequate resources and support for employees who are pregnant or on maternity/paternity leave?
Employees who are pregnant or on maternity/paternity leave should not be disadvantaged at work. Usually, companies will have policies in place to support employees in these situations.
However, this question can help you to identify whether employees feel like these policies are adequate, and to see what needs to be done to improve them.
17. What could your company do to better support employees who are LGBT+?
This is a key question to get right, because of how sensitive of an issue this can be. You absolutely do not want to discriminate against any of your employees, whether passively or actively. So asking this will help ensure you know exactly where you stand.
Ultimately, the LGBT+ community are the best people to ask if you want to gain truly accurate insights into how they feel about their own community, and whether you’re doing enough as an employer to support them.
18. On A Scale Of 1-5, How Comfortable Do You Feel Sharing Your Personal Information With Colleagues?
Clearly, we want employees to feel comfortable among colleagues, however not too comfortable. So that’s the objective of this questions, to find the balance between what people want to share and what they want to keep private.
Getting the balance right can help create a supportive environment when people are free to share and be themselves. With the ultimate goal, to create an enjoyable supportive workplace!
19. What could your company do to better support employees who are from minority ethnic groups?
With the increasing diversity of the workforce, it’s important that companies do what they can to support employees from minority ethnic groups.
This question can help you to identify specific areas where your company could improve its support for employees from minority ethnic groups.
It can also help identify what employees from minority ethnic groups feel is most important to them regarding inclusion and diversity.
20. When it comes to diversity and inclusion, what do you feel is your company’s biggest strength?
This question can help you to identify your company’s strengths when it comes to diversity and inclusion initiatives. It can also help to identify areas where employees feel your company could improve.
21. What could your company do to better support older employees?
During the next few years, there will be a boost diversity in the number of older employees due to the baby boomer generation reaching retirement age.
It’s important that companies do what they can to support older employees, who may face discrimination due to their age.
This question can help you to measure inclusion and identify whether your company is doing enough to support its older employees and what more could be done.
22. What could your company do to better support employees who are carers?
Many employees have caring responsibilities, whether they are caring for elderly parents, young children, or disabled family members.
It’s important that companies do what they can to support employees who are carers, as they may face discrimination due to their caring responsibilities.
23. What could your company do to better support employees who are parents?
Being a parent is one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences a person can have, but it can also be difficult to juggle work and family life.
It’s important that companies do what they can to support employees who are parents, as they may face discrimination due to their parental status.
24. What could your company do to better support employees who are from lower socio-economic backgrounds?
Even though socio-economic background shouldn’t be a barrier to success, unfortunately, it still is.
It’s important that companies do what they can to support employees who are from lower socio-economic backgrounds, as they may face discrimination due to their background.
25. What could your company do to better support employees who have experienced discrimination?
Discrimination is a reality for many people, and it can have a significant impact on an individual’s life. It’s important that companies do what they can to support employees who have experienced discrimination, as they may face further discrimination.
These employees may also feel isolated and unsupported by their company.
These are just a few ideas to get you started – there are many other questions you could ask, depending on the specific needs of your company. By asking these questions, you’ll be on your way to creating a more inclusive and diverse workplace.
Why It’s Important to Have a Diverse Workforce
Diversity in the workplace is important for a number of reasons. First, it helps to create a more positive work environment for all employees.
A diverse workforce allows employees to feel comfortable in their own skin and to be themselves without the need to conform to others else’s idea of what they should be.
Second, as you bring diversity, it helps to create a more innovative and creative workplace. When employees feel like they can bring their unique perspectives to the table, it leads to better ideas and solutions.
A diverse workforce allows for a wider range of ideas and viewpoints, which can lead to more innovation.
Third, diversity helps to attract and retain the best talent. The best and brightest employees want to work for companies that value diversity, equity, and inclusion. By creating a diverse workplace, you’ll be able to attract and retain the best talent.
Lastly, to improve diversity is good for business. Companies with a diverse workforce tend to be more successful than those without. The right diversity helps to create an environment of inclusion, which leads to better decision-making, increased innovation, and improved bottom-line survey results.
So, there are a lot of good reasons to create a more diverse and inclusive workplace. By asking the right questions, you can start to create the kind of workplace that employees want to work in. And that’s good for everyone.